1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to a system having a cooking or baking vessel, a container such as a pot or pan, together with a separate handle, designed for improved safety. More particularly, the present invention relates to a cooking or baking vessel having a separate, non-coupling handle which docks with a receiver associated with the vessel and which immediately ceases to engage the vessel when upward force is no longer applied at the non-grip portion of the handle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Attempts to develop handles for cooking or baking vessels, such as pots and pans have largely focused on the benefit of a detachable handle for storage purposes. Few attempts have been made to develop handles for cooking or baking vessels to reduce the likelihood of catastrophic burns caused by careless contact with stovetop handles or by unintended contact with stovetop handles by small children. As a result, most attempts to develop handles for cooking or baking vessels have focused on handles which may be actively detached and removed from vessels, but which otherwise are attached and affixed to pots, and become integral components thereof.
Each year more than 30,000 children under the age of 4 are injured in cooking accidents, usually when a protruding handle from a pot or pan is pulled or bumped, dropping hot food or liquid on them from above. A similar danger exists to employees in commercial kitchens where cooks work in close proximity to many protruding handles. And the danger of injury may be generalized to a number of other settings where handles are required to manipulate vessels containing hot, caustic, or otherwise hazardous liquids, but overlooked or unattended handles create a “bump-and-spill” hazard for workers.
Various patents exist which teach the use of handles to be attached or detached for convenience. However none identify safety as a primary function of the invention. Consequently, all current designs work by some mechanism (pins, springs, pumps, latches or locks) which must be manually actuated to secure (or couple, attach, affix or join) the handle in place and again manually actuated to remove the handle from the vessel. If the mechanism is not intentionally actuated for handle removal, the handle will default to remain attached to the vessel, thus presenting the same danger as a fixed handle. Moreover, the prior art teaches use of attachment systems which require inclusion of various additional parts and which require a substantial protrusion from and beyond the body of the cookware. These systems thus have increased cost due to the necessity of additional moving parts and shorter lifespans as wear of these various moving parts can render the attachment system inoperable. This could be particularly dangerous as the occasion of such failure cannot be predicted and is most likely to occur during use, when the cookware contains food and may contain a heated liquid. Moreover, as these systems include attachment systems which protrude from and beyond the body from the container body, the risk of contact and accidental spillage remains to anyone near the cooking surface.
Therefore there is a need in the art for a cookware system which reduces the likelihood of accidental burns to users and others in the kitchen, particularly children, by eliminating the presence of a handle or extension from the cookware body. Thus, there is a need for a cookware system wherein the handle or handles do not attach or become affixed to the cooking vessel and which instead have a handle or handles which cease to be in contact with the vessel upon removal of operable force from the operator, such as the cook, and which does so without conscious or intentional operator action or input when the pot is rested upon the heating surface. Additionally there is a need for a cookware system which provides for such safer operation without the use of various moving parts susceptible to failure and which can be readily, efficiently and relatively inexpensively manufactured.